


Nail Polish

by indie_writes



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, so you're in for a wild ride folks, this is probably the longest fic I've ever written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 14:38:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12367881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indie_writes/pseuds/indie_writes
Summary: Race paints Spot's nails, and then it all goes downhill from there...Tw: Homophobia





	Nail Polish

“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this…” Spot sighed, his pinky twitching.

“Don’t move! You’re gonna mess me up.” Race tightened his grip on Spot’s fingers as he applied some color to his nails.

“Yeah alright…” it was at the beginning of study hall when Race had plopped himself down in front of Spot. He’d raised an eyebrow when Race pulled out a bottle of black nail polish.

“Give me your hand.” he’d ordered.

“Um, ...no.” Spot had replied. He didn’t have anything against boys wearing nail polish, it just didn’t seem like his thing. It’s kind of hard to look tough with painted nails, he reasoned.

“/Pleeeease/?” Race whined. Spot rolled his eyes and allowed his hand to be taken. Race nudged the bottle in a way that let Spot know his nails weren’t going to be painted just yet.

“I /looove/ you.” Race sang. He pressed a kiss into Spot’s palm and the shorter boy felt a blush creep up his cheeks as he sighed in defeat.

“Fine, just don’t fuck it up.” Race excitedly grabbed the bottle of black nail polish and began to twist the top off when Spot noticed he was wearing that exact color. He removed the small brush from the bottle and began to apply the color to his boyfriend’s nails.

“Alright, I’m almost done…” Race said carefully, painting Spot’s left pinky. He finally finished covering the surface, and leaned back in his chair.

“Don’t touch anything if you want them to look nice.” Race warned. Spot softly blew onto the glossy places.

“What was the point of this?” Spot asked, waving his hand around, trying to get the nail polish to dry faster.

“Well, one part was just to see if you would let me do it.” Race laughed.

“The second part was because I thought you would look cute with nail polish on.” he smirked, looking Spot over.

“Guess I was right.” the taller boy hummed, causing Spot to roll his eyes and shift in his chair.

“I’d hit you but I don’t wanna mess this up.” Spot huffed.

“See, you /do/ like them!” Race beamed, clearly proud of himself. He leaned back in his chair to admire his hard work.

“...sure.” he muttered.

“How am I supposed to get any work done if I can’t even hold a pencil?” Spot whined.

“Can’t you just enjoy spending time with your boyfriend?” Race pouted.

“I guess I can do that.” Spot smiled and leaned across the table towards Race. Spot’s nail polish had dried by the end of study hall, so he would be able to get some work done (yay).

*****

All in all, the day went by fairly regularly. Spot and Race almost got a detention, but Davey was able to get them out of it. Jack and Crutchie had been complaining all day about an English test they said they would fail; and Katherine and Sarah started putting the school yearbook together, which they had also been complaining about because apparently they were the only competent ones on the staff

“You guys better be glad I saved you from detention.” Davey scolded.

“You’re the best Davey!” Race said with a big smile.

“Thanks Davey.” Spot mumbled. Spot and David went to catch the bus and Race left them to walk home. Davey departed to join the crowd of heathens that rode his bus home. Spot’s bus was at the end of the line, so he still had a little ways to go. He stopped short when he heard a bunch of deep voices all talking at once. Spot looked over his shoulder and immediately recognized them as his skin began to crawl- the football team. They weren’t all bad, Race was the kicker, but Spot had a vendetta against them for how they treated his boyfriend ever since he came out and the two of them became public about their relationship.

“So I tell him- hang on, is that who I think it is?” /Shit/.

“Spotty boy! How ya doin’?” They immediately surrounded him, shoving him in a way they told the teachers was “playful”.

“You going to your boyfriend’s house?” the biggest one- most likely the linebacker- sneered.

“At least I’ve got someone who wants me.” Spot squared his jaw squared his jaw and looked the linebacker- Spot remembered the boy’s name was Steven- right in the eye.

“Little faggot’s got a mouth, huh?” he shoved Spot to the ground, scraping his palms as he tried to break his fall.

“What’s this?” Steven asked, leaning forward to look at Spot’s hands, focusing in on the nail polish on his fingernails.

“Wow Conlon, as if you couldn’t get any gayer.” he laughed, stepping on his fingers. Spot hissed in pain, trying to remove his fingers from under the heavy boy’s shoe but he was unsuccessful. Steven pressed harder on Spot’s hand until he felt a few fingers crack, only then did he lift his foot to kick the shorter boy in the stomach. This seemed to be a signal for the rest of the boy to begin their assault as well. Spot heard the roar of the bus engines as they began to leave the school. Great. He knew the bus drivers wouldn’t do anything to get the football players in trouble, even they knew the importance of the game to the school.

They sunk the toes of their shoes into Spot’s stomach and ribs. He initially tried to swing his arms and legs, but that only led to them the getting stomped on and crushed. He eventually decided on wrapping them around his body so he just might come out of this alive. The football players continued to kick at his shins when he pulled them into his chest, but they soon realized what he was trying to do and began to stomp on his sides. A few strangled yells escaped Spot’s throat as pain attacked him from all sides. He pulled his limbs in even tighter and tried to pretend like none of this was happening. All of a sudden, they stopped and Spot foolishly looked around for the person that must have come to save him. He began to reach out only to be pulled to his feet and then lifted in the air as Steven glowered in his face.

“You’re worthless.” he growled and threw Spot back onto the ground as he took the rest of his friends with him. He slowly relaxed into the ground as he heard their cars speed away. He looked around and saw the blood on the pavement- his blood. Spot felt for his face first and and noticed it was swollen but there were no open wounds. He looked down to his left hand- the one that had been previously stepped on- and noticed the discoloration in his fingers as well as some breakage in the skin where the deep red liquid was slowly pouring out. His middle finger was bent at an awkward angle, and he knew it and the others must be broken. His sides ached as he breathed and he knew something must be wrong with his ribs.

He didn’t cry, there was no energy left in him for that. Instead, he waited until his shallow breaths became deeper and fuller before dragging himself up to a standing position. His mind was foggy and his body felt leaden as the ground moved beneath him. Luckily, he knew of somewhere to go that was close to the school.

*****

Race tucked the soft plush blanket underneath his chin as another episode of The Office started to play. His eyelids began to feel heavy as he sunk into the soft cushions of the couch. All his homework had been done for the day, so he was able to nap for as long as he wanted.

/Tap, tap, tap/. It was so quiet Race might not have heard it if the characters had not been talking. He grumbled and pushed the blanket off him lazily and didn’t bother to pick it up when it hit the ground. Neither of his parents were home so it was up to Race to deal with whoever was at the door. As he finally shuffled over and undid the lock, he opened the door to reveal his boyfriend barely standing on his own two feet.

“Hey there Racer…” he said weakly, his entire body sagging under its own weight. Race’s stomach churned as he took in the sight, Spot’s face was swollen in various places, his hand hung limply by his side with some blood on his fingers, and he was heavily leaning on the doorframe.

“Holy shit- come inside!” Race immediately threw one of Spot’s arms over his shoulders to help support his weight and tried to ignore the hisses of pain as he kicked the front door shut behind them.

“What the hell happened to you?!” Race asked as he sat Spot down on the edge of the bathtub.

“It’s not-”

“Don’t you even try that, Sean.” Race snapped. He opened up the medicine cabinet and pulled out the first aid kit his parents kept in there.

“It was these guys…” Spot admitted, lowering his head.

“These guys?” Race pressed.

“It was these guys on the football team alright! They saw me walking to the bus and I guess decided they hadn’t been homophobic enough for that day.” Spot huffed.

“That’s it, I’m quitting.” Race announced, raising both of his hands in the air.

“Like hell you are! We both know you need that for a scholarship.” Spot sighed. He know how much his boyfriend hated that team, but he was a really great player and that could help get him into his dream college. Race rolled his eyes and searched through the container for something that might be of use.

“We can argue about this after you’re all cleaned up. I’m running you a bath so you might want to change unless you’re okay with getting your clothes all soaked.” Race left the bathroom and returned with a pair of swim trunks Spot had left behind when they went to a pool party a few weeks ago.

“Here.” Race tossed the shorts to Spot and turned away.

“You realize we’re boyfriends, right?” Spot raised an eyebrow. He attempted to pull off his t-shirt and winced loudly as he tried to use the hand with the broken fingers and pain began to burn on his side.

“What the hell?” Race gently grabbed Spot’s hand and studied his fingers. He tried not to move them as he saw the blood that coated almost his entire hand in a thin layer.

“Sean…” Race’s voice cracked as his eyes began to well up whilst holding Spot’s broken fingers. He’d been able to handle Spot showing up at his doorstep, bruised and bloodied as he was, because he’d been able to focusing on healing him. Now that he had stopped he couldn’t help but think that about how this was his /boyfriend/ that had gotten beat up. He didn’t ever want to ever see him in a state like this again.

“We’re going to the hospital.” Race sniffed. He readjusted Spot’s shirt and took him out to his car and got him into the passenger seat. Race then ran back inside to grab the credit card his parents gave him for emergencies.

“We don’t need to do this…” Spot protested.

“Well too bad because you’re already in the car.” Race said with a note of finality as he began to pull out of the driveway. Spot slowly leaned on his boyfriend’s shoulder and felt his eyelids grow heavy.

“Stay awake for me, okay? We don’t know what head injuries you might have.” Race said softly, nudging Spot off of him. He quickly looked his boyfriend over and saw the many bruises that were just starting to form on top of the old ones. Race felt his heart squeeze as he continued the drive to the hospital. Spot pulled down the hanging mirror in front of him and winced at his own reflection.

“Ain’t I pretty?” he laughed weakly.

“Hey, at least it’ll get you seen to faster.” Race smiled as he pulled into the parking lot. Once the car was parked, Race opened Spot’s door for him.

“I don’ need your help.” Spot mumbled, still holding onto his boyfriend for support.

“Yeah sure, c’mon sweetheart.” Race laughed as they slowly but surely made their way across the parking lot and into the emergency room. Spot was deposited into a chair before Race went to talk to the woman at the front desk. He heard Race start to talk to a lady, but he was too busy trying not to make eye contact with the other people in the waiting room. There weren’t many people there but he would bet that they all deserved care before he did. He accidentally looked at a tired mother rocking a small child and instantly felt sick to his stomach with guilt.

“Okay Spot we’ve-” Race walked over to Spot, holding a clipboard and pen.

“Can’t we just go home? I don’t think I even need all this fancy doctor stuff…”

“Sean Conlon do not try to get out of this, look at you! Your face is swollen, you could barely make it across the parking lot, there’s blood on your clothes, and your fingers are broken!” Race whisper-shouted, not wanting to disturb the rest of the people in the room. He dug into his pocket and quickly pulled out his cell phone.

“I’m going to call your mom while you fill out this form.” Race dropped the clipboard into Spot’s lap and thought about how lucky they were that his right hand was still intact.

“Hi, Ms. Conlon this is Anthony.” Spot heard anxious muttering from the other side of the phone call.

“Everything’s fine- well, not really but I’m calling you from the hospital. Spot’s just a little banged up.” Race informed her, trying to sound as calm as possible, followed by more muttering.

“He’s right here, do you wanna talk to him?” Race handed the phone to Spot, who was almost finished with the form.

“Hey ma…”

“Sean what happened?! Are you okay?” she asked nervously. Spot decided it was best not to lie to his mother since she would know what he was doing in a second.

“Just a couple of guys at school…’

“/A couple/ of guys?! When I get down there you are going to tell me their names and I am calling the principal!” she said frantically.

“Okay ma…” Spot shrank in his seat, he did not want to be on the business end of his mother’s wrath.

“I love you Sean!”

“Love you too ma!” Spot hung up the phone and handed it back to his boyfriend so he could finish filling out the rest of his medical form. There were only a few questions left to answer and once he was done he handed the board and pen back to Race who insisted on turning it in for him. Once Race returned to the seat next to his boyfriend, Spot rested his head on his shoulder. It took a moment to relax, but he eventually melted into Race’s side.

“Poor baby.” Race mumbled as he pressed a kiss to Spot’s forehead. The shorter boy didn’t have the energy to argue, so he just let his eyes close as he grabbed his boyfriend’s hand. He was able to calm down a bit- Race still wouldn’t let him fall asleep- until a cheerful nurse stepped into the waiting room.

“Sean Conlon?” she asked brightly. Race took Spot’s hand as they went up to the nurse together.

“That’s him.” Race answered, pointing to his boyfriend.

“What’s your relation to Mr. Conlon?” she asked. Race didn’t take a second to think before he answered.

“He’s my boyfriend.” /Shit/. He felt his heart drop out of his chest as Spot tightened his grip on his hand.

“I’m terribly sorry but only immediate family members are allowed to accompany patients into the rooms unless we get permission from a parent or guardian.” she said with artificial sadness.

“Hey, you’ve got to let-” Spot stepped forward and Race put an arm out in front of him to make his boyfriend seem less threatening.

“I’ll be fine, you go ahead and let them help you.” Race smiled sadly, gently shoving his boyfriend in the direction of the nurse. Spot glared back at him but had no other choice but to comply.

Race sat back down in the waiting room and quickly pulled out his phone to send a text.

 

Spotty Biscotti

[You] I love you!

Spotty is typing…

[Spotty] I love you too, you ass

 

Race laughed and opened up a game on his phone, some puzzle game which he was hardly paying attention to. After a few moments of just staring at the screen, Race decided he would rather read a webcomic about college hockey players. He was about a couple pages in when Spot’s mom came bursting in through the doors and Race quickly rose to meet her.

“Ms. Conlon!” he called, walking over to her.

“Anthony, what are you doing out here?” she asked.

“They wouldn’t let me go in with him, ‘immediate family only’ they said.” Race huffed. He knew it must have had something to do with the fact that they were both minors but that didn’t stop him from getting upset about it.

“Remind me to have a word with someone when this is all over with.” she said sternly, walking towards the front desk

“Yes ma’am.” Race replied. He stood back while Spot’s mom talked to the lady behind the desk and soon they were both taken to her son.

“Oh Sean…” Ms. Conlon murmured, inspecting her son’s injuries.

“There appears to be no head trauma, but a few of his fingers are broken and a couple of his ribs are fractured.” the nurse reported.

“You tell me who did this.” Spot’s mom ordered.

“Ma…”

“That was not a suggestion.” she sat down next to her son on the vinyl bench and took his right hand.

“Just some of the guys on the football team.”

“On the football team?! They could’ve killed you!” she knew how physically strong Spot was, but she’d also been to his boyfriend’s football game. Those boys were built like bulldozers, and the longer she thought about them acting aggressively towards her son, the angrier she became.

“It’s not my fault! I didn’t ask for them to beat me up!” Spot cried.

“I know sweetheart, I’m just upset. I’m going to call the school, do you know their names or jersey numbers?” Spot sighed and told her all the names he could remember and soon enough she was out the door. The nurse managed to catch Ms. Conlon and had her sign a few things to authorize medical care for Spot.

“Alright Sean, we’re going to take you into the next room to get you all bandaged up. He can come too.” she gestured over to Race who was already gripping onto his boyfriend’s hand. They silently walked past Spot’s mom who was having a heated discussion with who must have been the principal.

“I don’t give a damn about ‘kids who made a mistake’!” she shouted as the three of them made their way past her. They found their way into an empty room that smelled of disinfectant.

“Okay Sean, if you just want to hop up on that table, we’ll get your ribs first.” she chirped, leaving the room to grab her supplies. Spot felt the adrenaline slowly drain from his body and his fingers and ribs began to ache. He shifted uncomfortably to relieve some of the sharp pain which was inflicted with every inhale.

“How’re you feelin’ Spotty?” Race smiled sadly as Spot’s face contorted in pain.

“Wonderful.” he said sarcastically. Race got up on the plush table to sit next to Spot, who rested his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. They sat together until the nurse returned with all the things she needed to wrap Spot up.

“Alright, we’re gonna get your ribs all fixed first, which means you’re going to have to take your shirt off.” the nurse instructed politely. Spot began to push the fabric up over his chest when the pain flared up in his side and he began to struggle. Almost as if by instinct, Race reached over to help him.

“Here… just hold your arms out.” Race pulled the fabric on the back of the shirt over his boyfriend’s head and the rest was easier from there. The shirt was sat on the empty space on the bench as Race hopped off so the nurse could get to work. She pulled out some bandages and wrapped them tightly around Spot’s body, securing his ribs in place.

“You’re lucky this was just a sprain.” the nurse said lightly, stepping back after she finished with Spot’s ribs.

“Boy, do I feel lucky.” Spot replied through clenched teeth.

“I wish I could do something for your face hon, but all I can do for now is give you an ice pack.” the nurse said halfheartedly as she handed him a cloth bag of ice with cartoon thermometers on it. Spot set it on his lap as Race helped him put his shirt back on, and then pressed the cool surface onto one of his many bruises.

“Now we’re going to set your fingers back into place.” she pulled out three finger braces and set them on the counter which was up against the wall.

“This is probably going to hurt so I’ll give you a moment to prepare.” Spot heart started beating loudly in his chest and he quickly set down the ice pack and grabbed Race’s hand. Spot carefully extended his left hand and waited for the nurse to get started. She approached him and sat one of the braces down by his legs.

“One… two… three!” the nurse applied pressure to Spot’s finger until it went back into its proper alignment.

“Son of a-”

“Let’s not swear right now!” Race tried to cover up the sound of Spot’s yells so he wouldn’t scare his mom and the other people in the waiting room. The nurse quickly put the brace on Spot’s finger and the process repeated itself while his fingers were being put back into their proper alignment.

“That’s the last one!” the nurse wiped her forehead with an exaggerated motion.

“You were very brave young man! We’ll head on back to your mom and we’ll get you checked out.”

“Great.” Spot mumbled, ashamed of his outbursts. They shuffled back to the room with Spot’s mom where it looked like she had just finished her phone call by the redness of her face.

“Everything okay?” she asked her son.

“Peachy.” Spot gave a thumbs up with his braced hand.

“If you all want to follow me back out into the waiting room, we can get you on your way!” the nurse said cheerfully. They had to admire resilience. Ms. Conlon nodded swiftly and they all went into the nearly empty waiting room. Spot and Race decided to sit down in the chairs behind Ms. Conlon as she filled more forms.

“You feelin’ any better?” Race asked softly.

“I will when I get some painkillers.” Spot laughed humorlessly and placed his head on Race’s shoulder. Race ran his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair as they relaxed into each other. He wrapped his hand around Spot’s bicep and held on as a way to reassure himself that his boyfriend was okay. /If only I’d been there when those guys had shown up…/

“Alright boys, I hate to break this up but I really should take Sean home to rest.” Ms. Conlon said halfheartedly.

“You’re welcome to come over any time, Anthony.” she added.

“Thanks so much Ms. Conlon. When are you going to be back at school?” Race addressed Spot directly.

“I can walk, can’t I? My right hand still works so I can write too.” Spot shrugged.

“We’ll talk about it.” Ms. Conlon placed a hand on her son’s shoulder and began to steer him towards the exit.

“I guess I’ll see you later!” Race laughed and waved as Spot tried to look back at him over his mom’s shoulder.

*****

The next day, Spot managed to convince his mom to let him go to school- something he thought he’d never do. It wasn’t that he really cared about missing anything; but Spot will have died before giving anyone who messes with him even the smallest inclination that they have won. As he trudged through the hall he tried to ignore the stares and whispers of what the hell happened? poor kid looks beat half to death… I bet his dad’s been drinking too much… Not wanting to get suspended for causing a fight, Spot kept his gaze straight ahead and kept walking. The only people who didn’t dare ask were his friends; he assumed Race told them or they were afraid of getting an ass-kicking.

“Afternoon, Conlon!” the hair on of Spot’s neck stood up as Steven’s voice decided to enter his ears.

“How’s the face feeling?” he reached his hand out to poke the bruise above Spot’s eye.

“Piss off, asshat.” Spot hissed, smacking the football player’s hand away.

“You don’t get to talk to me like that.” Steven growled. The linebacker seemed to notice the growing amount of people around them and decided to make his early exit. He grabbed Spot’s arm and shoulder roughly and shoved him against the lockers. Had he been at full health, Spot would have bounced right off and started swinging. Alas, he still had fractured ribs which caused him to crumple against the surface of the metal lockers. By the time he managed to sit himself up, Steven had disappeared, but Race was quickly making his way towards Spot.

“What the hell just happened?” Race asked earnestly, helping his boyfriend to his feet.

“One a’ the guys who roughed me up yesterday just slammed me against the lockers.” he admitted, rubbing the area where his ribs hurt the most.

“Are you okay?” Race asked quickly.

“Yeah bu-” and just like that his boyfriend was up again.

“Hey asshole!” Race shouted, he could still see the beefy football player at the end of the hall talking to somebody.

“What the hell were you thinking, throwing my boyfriend into the lockers?!” Race asked angrily. As the linebacker turned to face Race, he could see the person he was talking to was the coach of the football team.

“I don’t kno-” the Steven started.

“Save it, son. Anthony, I can assure you we have no room on the team for boys who starts fights. We’ve learned of some recent unacceptable behavior that directly goes against our code of conduct.” the coach said sternly.

“What are you sayin’?” Race asked.

“What I’m /saying/ is that this young man here and all of his accomplices will be removed from the team and given a three-day suspension effective immediately.” he said. Race couldn’t think of a single word to say so he just gave a big sigh of relief.

“Thank you sir.” he managed to choke out.

“It wasn’t my decision, that Ms. Conlon put the fear of God in the principal.” the coach laughed with fear in his eyes. The ex-football player couldn’t do anything but glare angrily as he was led to the main office.

“What’s goin’ on?” Spot appeared by Race’s side. Instead of answering him, Race gently cupped Spot’s face and kissed him forcefully.

“They ain’t ever going to bother you again sweetheart, the school’s takin’ care of it.” Race said, just inches from his boyfriend’s face.

“What do you mean by that?” Spot asked, a little dazed.

“I mean, suspended, kicked off the football team, everything but expulsion!” the taller boy answered gleefully. Race became confused when Spot frowned at the ground.

“What’s the matter, isn’t this a good thing?” Race tried to find Spot’s eyes.

“I just don’t want anyone thinking I need to be /saved/ is all…” Spot huffed.

“Sweetheart, I am always gonna be lookin’ out for you! It’s because I love you!” Race placed a soft kiss onto his boyfriend’s forehead. Spot rolled his eyes and rested his head on Race’s chest.

“At least leave the fighting to me, alright?” Spot asked into Race’s shirt.

“No promises.” he laughed in response. Spot lifted his head from Race’s chest to look his boyfriend in the eyes.

“Let’s at least promise to take care of each other.” Spot took Race’s hand.

“Deal.” just like that,it was the end of the school day and the time had come for the two of them to head home.


End file.
